Secret Worlds (455 page)

“Lena!” He bent down to pull her up into his arms and shake her like a rag doll. “Damn, girlie, you’re going to be the death of me.”

She laughed as she pulled away. The laughter faded at the worry on his face. “What are you doing all the way out here? And at this hour? Do you want agents knocking on your door?”

He cocked a brow at her and rubbed a hand across his bald head. “I’ve already got agents dropping my name. Yours, too.”

Her eyes closed. She shook her head. “Ace, I’m sorry. I never meant to bring trouble on anyone—”

“You didn’t bring any trouble on me. And even if you had—” he flicked the tip of her nose and then pulled her back in for another hug “—you know you’re worth every minute.”

She wrapped her arms tight around his waist and leaned her head into his lower chest. She regretted, not for the first time, that she and Ace could never be together. She wasn’t the correct gender. Other than her father’s, his were the only arms she’d ever felt safe in. Now the Council had found Ace, too.

“What happened? They didn’t bother you at work, did they?” She tipped her head back to look up at him. He worked for Wallace & Aceves Imports, also known as the Dragonfly House, one of the most powerful trade groups. They had their fingers in all nine Council Zones. They were powerful. They were also paranoid.

“No.” He shook his head and wrinkled his forehead. “He found me at the Piece of Asp.”

“He?” She knew who before Ace even answered.

“Uh huh. Beautiful, dangerous man. Likes expensive tequila. And pain-in-the-ass redheads. You know him?”

“Reyes.” Lena rolled her eyes. “He does not like me, I promise. He came out here to arrest me.”

Ace reached out to gently grasp her chin and pull her face up. He examined her with a familiar, searching look. “Oh, hell no. Lena. No. Not that man.”

She pulled her chin away and scoffed at him. “What? Whatever you think you’re seeing…no. I don’t want him.” She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself against the dropping temperature. “He’s an
agent
. He works for the
Council
.”

“Screw being an agent. And screw the Council, too. The man is dangerous. You think you’re tough, playing with little boys. This is not the kind of man who plays games. He will eat your soul and make you like it.”

“Well, if I’ll like it, then what’s the problem?” She tossed the words back lightly.

“Lena.”

“He’s an asshole. Whatever you think you’re seeing, you’re not. I promise. And by the way, I
am
tough. I kicked his dangerous ass today, thank you very much! So don’t be underestimating me.” She scowled up at him. “And don’t go thinking he’s interested in anything but my kilowatt per hour output. The only thing I am to Reyes is a check on his monthly quota.”

“Yeah? Then why did he tell me to warn you that they’re not interested in hooking you up to a power plant? That you need to come in to him so he can get you someplace safe and keep you away from the Council?”

“I—what?” She stared at him.

“Yeah. He said you had their attention now. They’re going to ship you away and do Dust knows what to you. Don’t look at me like that!”

“Ace, he was playing you. It’s what they do. He’s just better at it than the rest of them.”

He leaned down and gripped her slight shoulders. “He wasn’t playing. He was pissed. And worried. He said he wasn’t sure he could get you someplace safe now, and the sooner you get back, the safer you’ll be.” He released her shoulders, but he kept his hands on her arms. “He knows you’re different. They do, too. The secret’s out. Agent or not, this guy wants to take you someplace safe. Maybe you can have a real life, one where you’re not hiding who you are. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.”

She stared up at him, fear beating inside her chest. No one was allowed to know what she could do. That was the rule. It had been the rule for as long as she could remember. “You don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand? You’re funny, little girl. I am the one person in this world who definitely understands.” He gestured at the car next to them. “I dropped everything and came out here to get you because I understand.” He smiled at her. “Jimmy’s pissed, too. He thinks I left to go meet up with your agent somewhere.”

A quick bark of laughter erupted from her. “What? He’s not even your type!”

Ace raised his brow again. “That man is everybody’s type.”

“Shut up.” She rubbed her arms and tilted her head back to stare up at the stars. Their brilliance took her breath away but gave her nothing in return. She had to find her own answers. “I don’t buy it, Ace.”

“You don’t think he’s everybody’s type? You going blind out here with the sun in your eyes?”

“No, and you know what I mean. I don’t buy this concern. There’s some magical safe place? I don’t buy it.” She tucked her hair back behind her ears, smoothing it down as she bit her lip. “I don’t buy it,” she repeated.

“Are you trying to convince me or you? Come back with me. I didn’t drive all the way out here for nothing. Guy like him gets worried, you pay attention.”

“I just—you didn’t see him when he came in today. He was totally convincing as a bored rich boy. And then as the good-citizen agent trying to talk me down. I don’t buy that he’s scared of the Council or something. I think it’s a trap.” It didn’t matter how beautiful the man was. She’d seen him be two different people already. How could she trust this new double agent role he’d sold to Ace?

Lies. He told them—became them—very well. He’s an
agent
, for Dust’s sake.

She gave voice to the fear simmering inside since she realized she’d somehow brought attention to Ace. “I go back with you, and then they take us both, me for the power plants and you to the work farms for helping me. I can’t be the reason you—” She swallowed the heat back and blinked away welling tears.

“I don’t think it’s a trap.” He lifted his hand to gently brush away from her face the hair the wind fluttered. “It’s hard to play a player. I looked into his eyes. He’s spooked for you. That’s not a lie. It was real.”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I love that you came out here to get me. But I can’t come back with you. I won’t put you at risk.”

“You have to trust somebody sometime, girlie.”

“Maybe. But not Reyes.”

They stood in silence then. He pulled her back for a long hug, and she leaned in, loving his warmth and the spicy male scent clinging to him. They’d been friends since before her parents had made her disappear, each hiding a secret from the world. Ace had come to terms with who he was long ago, and screw anyone who had an issue with him. But he still always made time for Lena and her struggle to exist. Her brother helped her out of a sense of duty. Danny loved her, but putting himself on the line? That he did for the memory of their father. Ace had no reason to drive out to the middle of nowhere to get her except that Ace had chosen her. And she’d be damned if she put him in danger, too.

Except Reyes had shown up at their favorite club to find him. They’d somehow made the connection. Ace was already in danger.

How long until he isn’t the only one?

She pulled away, staring up at him, stricken. “They found you already.”

Ace shook his head. “I can handle me.”

Her breath creaked out of her throat. “How long until they find my family? I thought if I ran away, everyone would be safe. But if they found you, they already know who I am. No one is safe.” Her hands tightened into fists. “They’ll go after my mother!”

It was her father all over again. He had tried to protect her, keep her hidden. After she’d messed up the first week of school, they’d never sent her back. They’d told everyone she had a terrible fever. A week later, she had officially died. It wasn’t a difficult lie. Disease was a constant danger; even hardy Spark children sometimes died. Lena had ceased to exist. Her father used his position to make it happen.

When the Councilor had discovered her father had secrets, had been hiding things, they’d taken him. Whatever they suspected he was doing, they’d never been able to discover what he’d really been up to. He took her existence with him to the grave.

The night they came to tell her mother, Lena had been helping Danny work on a circuit breaker for school. With the knock at the door, she’d hopped up and hustled to her hiding hole behind a loose board in the closet. She’d risked slipping back out into the closet and peeking through the crack, though, when she’d heard her mother begin to wail. Lena stood in the dark, alone, and watched as her family grieved. Danny sat in shock, one hand poised over the electric panel, head bowed. Teresa went to their mother and wrapped her arms around her. Over their mother’s shoulder, she’d stared with venomous hate at the closet where Lena hid. Teresa blamed her and had never made a secret of it. Lena had cost them their father.

Would she cost them their lives, now, too?

Ace shook his head. “I’ll protect Mercedes. I work for Dragonfly House. You go find somewhere safe to live, and I’ll get her to another zone—”

“But Teresa would never leave. My mother couldn’t leave Joseph behind.” After all of the loss in their lives, the birth of Lena’s nephew had brought joy back to her mother’s life. She shook her head. “I have to go back. I have to convince them. I can’t lose my mom.”

“Are you going to talk to Reyes, then? See if he can protect you all?”

Back to Reyes again.

She grimaced. “I don’t know. But I have to go somewhere. And I have to protect my family. I’m going to have to go back and figure it out.”

She looked down at her hands, fisted on the sides of his shirt, and then back up at him. “Except…it’s kind of a long walk. Can I have a ride?”

Ace nodded, face grave. “Yes. But you’re a wanted woman. You don’t mind riding in the trunk, do you?”

She blinked.

A broad smile spread across Ace’s face.

Lena rolled her eyes. “This is serious, Ace. You’re such a jerk.”

He chuckled.

“Seriously.”

“Mm-hmm.”

***

Before they could leave, Lena had to ground. Whether agents still lurked out there or not, putting it off would be dangerous. She couldn’t go into the city glowing this bright. She tried to get Ace to stay behind, just in case, but he would have none of it. He’d go with her into the desert, or she’d take her chances going back without grounding.

The desert undulated before her, lit by bright starlight and the half-moon above. Rocky outcroppings and twisted juniper trees scattered across the low hills threw pale shadows across the sand. She avoided them and her home, leading Ace toward the wide strip of broken asphalt that had been the big road to Albuquerque. The road was cracked and lifted in chunks, melted black ribbons crumbling. The road led nowhere now. The people who had been the heart of Albuquerque were long gone, and past it was Native Nations desert territory and the Hell City that had been El Paso.

She preferred to ground near the road to nowhere. It was already broken and glassy in places, so she wouldn’t disturb the desert. But she couldn’t risk hiking four miles from the Pueblo tonight. The pride of lions roaming the Zone Three desert hunted at night. So did wolves. In her current condition, she couldn’t defend herself and Ace, and she had no desire to find more trouble.

You’ve already got enough trouble, Lena.

Her lips quirked, although it was pain not mirth behind the smile. She had cataloged the four-legged threats to their safety when the real danger to her life came in the two-legged variety.

She reached a long rise jutting out over a shallow indentation in the land, not quite an arroyo. It was clear of brush and junipers. It would do. She hopped down from the rise and quickly removed her clothes. Her hands, shaking now from cold, flipped and creased the fabric in sharp motions before handing it off to Ace and reminding him to stand back. He’d seen her ground before. He planted a quick kiss on the top of her head and moved well away. He couldn’t help her with this anyway.

Naked and shivering, she returned to the middle of the shallow bowl. She rubbed her hands together and took a deep breath. She paced for a moment, pushed her hair back behind her ears, and waited for the anticipatory nausea to subside.

With a cry that was half sob and half angry shout, she planted her feet and wrapped her arms around herself. Her head fell back, and her eyelids closed as she sent her mind down into the ground below her, burrowing deep into the cool dark of the earth. Even as she pushed down she could feel the Dust swarming up, coating her invisibly, to protect her from the worst of the discharge to come. She gritted her teeth and opened herself to the earth.

She forced the Dust immersed in her cells to unfold in a ripple of will and energy. They spiraled open like flowers, revealing the pulses of stored energy at their core. She harvested the charges, and each pulse joined together and flowed down her body in spurts, pulled by the charge-craving earth.

As they moved, they drew the earth’s energy up toward themselves. It seeped into the bottoms of her soles and pooled before creeping up. The flow down from Lena slowed and steadied, grew together, and filled her until she could taste the metallic tang, and the rich electricity filled her nostrils.

The initial crack of the electric channel forming as the two forces met within her deafened her to those that followed. The sound waves came so fast that they were indistinguishable from each other. She felt each one. The sear of the white hot energy was muted by the Dust coating her skin, but only enough for her to survive it. The terror of the heat grew. It filled her mind as it licked at her body, outside on her skin and inside at her muscle and bone. Her blood burned. She screamed; the sound became lost in the crash of discharging electricity. Heat filled her mouth, white static arcing between her teeth and then out, up from the ground through her to sheet across the sky.

As suddenly as the channel had formed, it released. The last of the feedback energy curled away as the lightning dissipated. Her collapsing body threw no shadow in the absolute dark following the loss of brilliant white, but as she broke the rippled glass that had been desert sand, the dull crack echoed.